OSO, Washington (Reuters) — Recovery teams
already laboring through thick mud and heavy downpours at the site of
last week's landslide in Washington state are facing yet another
challenge — an unseen and potentially more dangerous stew of toxic
contaminants.

Sewage, propane, household solvents and other chemicals all lie
beneath the surface of the gray mud and rubble that covered a square
mile of a small, rural community and left dozens dead and missing
northeast of Seattle.

"We're worried about dysentery, we're worried about tetanus, we're
worried about contamination," local fire Lieutenant Richard Burke, a
spokesman for the operation, told reporters visiting the disaster
site on Sunday. "The last thing we want to do is take any of these
contaminants out of here and take them into town, back to our
families."

The official death toll stood at 21 on Monday, with 30 people still
listed as unaccounted for nine days after a rain-soaked hillside
collapsed on the morning of March 22 above the north fork of the
Stillaguamish River.

The torrent of mud released by the slide roared over both stream
banks and across state Highway 530, engulfing dozens of homes on the
outskirts of the town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade
Mountains.

Jason Biermann, program manager for the Snohomish County Emergency
Management Department, said late on Sunday that the official loss of
life so far included 15 victims whose remains have been identified
by medical examiners and six more still awaiting positive
identification.

He said four additional sets of remains were found on Sunday that
for reasons not explained to reporters were being left out of the
official tally of dead.

NO SIGNS OF LIFE

Authorities have offered conflicting casualty figures, and the
process of accounting for the number of dead has likely been
complicated by the condition of some bodies that rescue workers have
said are not always found intact.

Based on the four latest sets of remains reported found, and
previous statements by county officials, the overall unofficial
death toll could stand as high as 32.

No one has been pulled out alive, and no signs of life have been
detected, since the day the landslide hit, when at least eight
people were injured but survived.

Officials have conceded it may be impossible to account for everyone
lost in the disaster, and that some victims might end up being
permanently entombed under the mound of muck and debris.

Scores of recovery workers, including National Guard troops just
back from Afghanistan, continued to pick through the swampy,
rubble-strewn mud on Sunday, as overcast but dry weather provided a
welcome respite from heavy rains of recent days.

Weather forecasts for the week ahead showed a continued drying
trend, "which will help crews and reduce the risk of flooding and
additional slides," the county said in a statement.

Some parts of the slide area, buried beneath as much as 80 feet of
mud and twisted tree trunks, were still too dangerous to enter,
Burke told the visiting reporters.

Like most workers at the site, Burke's boots were sealed to his
trousers with duct tape, a precaution to keep toxic sludge out of
his clothing. National Guard troops also set up a decontamination
station where workers scrubbed themselves with soap and hot water
before leaving the site.

"This is going to be a hazardous materials site for many years while
we try to get this cleaned up," Burke said.

Local churches offered prayers on Sunday for the dead and missing,
and words of solace for grieving families.

Governor Jay Inslee, who toured the disaster zone by helicopter on
Sunday, said relatives had not given up all hope of finding a
"miracle" survivor, and neither had authorities.

"We're looking for that miracle right now," the governor said during
a stop at an airfield in the neighboring town of Arlington. "If we
don't find that miracle, they're also looking for the knowledge of
the fate of their loved ones."